Comedy accidentally falls foul of rules to stop political misinformation

Facebook has removed a video of Donald Trump spreading false information about how to vote - despite it being a puppet version of the US President in a clearly satirical Spitting Image sketch.

The official page of the Britbox comedy last week posted a skit of the commander-in-chief sharing his dubious tips, attracting almost two million views and thousands of likes and shares.

‘If you want to vote for Trump do this,’ the puppet said, putting a cross next to his name on the ballot paper.‘What if you’re crazy and you hate America and you don’t want to vote for Trump?’ he added. ‘Do this’ – and again put a cross in the Donald Trump box.

However, this morning – more than a week after the US polls closed – the social media giant removed the clip for breaking its rules on posts promoting voter fraud, Chortle can reveal.

When asked about the disappearing video, a spokesman for production company Avalon confirmed that it had been removed for breaching ‘Facebook’s community standards on voter and census interference’.

The relevant clause bans ‘statements that advocate, provide instructions or show explicit intent to illegally participate in a voting or census process’.

But moderators appear to have been over-zealous in applying the rule to a comedy sketch mocking such misinformation in a decision which would have an impact on other comedians posting satirical videos.

After being approached by Chortle, Facebook admitted they had made a mistake – and reinstated the video.

 ‘We can confirm that this was removed in error and has now been reinstated,’ a spokesman said. 

The sketch was also posted to YouTube, without falling foul of the censors.

While Spitting Image has been streaming on subscription service Britbox, a pre-US-election special aired on ITV last month, attracting 3.2million viewers, more than a fifth of the total audience at the time and the highest rating show in that slot all year.

• Political comedian Matt Forde, who voices Trump on Spitting Image, will be taking part in the Chortle Comedy Book Festival next week, when he will be quizzed by Jon Richardson. Full details.

Published: 11 Nov 2020